The competitive situation for businesses has experienced drastical changes as an effectof globalization and changes in consumer demands. Product related competitive advantages arerisking to quickly become presumptions for competition. The demand for increased innovationpace, along with the intense price competition, has led to buisnesses trying to find new ways todifferentiate themselves and Corporate Social Responsibility has became one way of doing so.The bad working conditions associated with the textile industry have rised a debate about thebusinesses’ Corporate Social Responsibility. The future is heading towards more and morecompanies choosing to take their social responsibility, many of those experiencing this to be anadvandage in the relation with the consumers. Although, there are no proofs supporting thattheory.To be able to answer if the Corporate Social Responsibility adopted by companies actually cancontribute with benefits, the following problem formulation was created: Is it possible to build a strong brandimage through CSR? Is the interest for ethics important enough among swedish fashion consumers to have animpact on their buying desicion?The purpose of this study is to illustrate how companies in the fashion industry can apply CSR, toenhance their brandimage, and create competitive advantages. The study also aims to examine, inwhat way, the consumers’ interest in ethics and social issues affect their buying decisions.The study showed that most consumers like to think of themselves as “good people” andtherefore find social responsibility and fair working conditions to be of great importance whichmakes it possible for comapanies to build a strong brandimage with CSR. Although, the likingtowards social responsibility showed to be in no way a warranty for companies that consumerswill choose their products over those of the competitors’. A strong brandimage, thus, isn’t enoughto affect the consumers buying decision though other attributes is of greater importance for thecustomers. However, there is a small segment that find fair working conditions to be of greatimportance. The conclusion is that CSR, as a competitive weapon and differentiator, is suitablefor a small segment of the market rather than the market as a whole. / Program: Textilekonomutbildningen

This thesis seeks to shed some light on the study and practice of visual communication across cultural boundaries, Using a semiotic approach, it examines how a selected range of Western brand images that are promoted in the People's Republic of China are 'read' and interpreted by the local urban population. The case studies include symbolic images, such as logomarks and logotypes, as well as iconic images such as photographic material in advertisements. The political, economic and social context, and cultural aspects, such as attitudes, values and various cultural codes, are considered as influencing factors tha t affect the decoding of the meaning of visual unages. The research indicates that the intended and perceived meanings of a branding image rarely match when there is a significant difference between the cultures in which the image is encoded and decoded. While in a few instances the local population interprets the Western brand images in the manner intended by the Western communicator, most are interpreted differently. Some images are interpreted with a positive, albeit different, connotation, others are seen as rather negative. In the worst-case scenario, the messages are severely misunderstood and totally rejected by the readers due to cultural incompatibility. Rather unexpectedly, symbolic images, acknowledged as arbitrary and culture-specific in nature, are more readily interpreted in a positive way and close to the intended meaning than are the iconic images. The latter tend to be interpreted almost exclusively in the reader's (rather than the author's) cultural context and thus may be prone to misunderstanding or even rejection. The thesis concludes that the challenge in communicating visually across cultural boundaries is to recognise cultural differences, and draw on cultural compatibility to generate shared meaning and avoid cultural clashes that cause negative interpretation

<p>The fashion industry is one of the most exciting and fast-moving industries in the worldand the companies within the fashion industry are driven by the reputation of their brand.(Hines and Bruce, 2001) Some celebrities and athletes use their names as a label so that the wearer associates the clothes with the person, and therefore that brand takes on the image of the celebrity. This research is concentrated on the customers of a particular fashion company, Björn Borg. In the fashion industry, it is not only important who is wearing the brand, but also who is not wearing the brand, which leads to the aim of this paper: Can a company sacrifice its brand image if it holds on to all of its customers,including those outside of its target market? From our research, we were able to draw the following conclusions: The customers within the target group associate the brand with some of the characteristics of customers outside the target group and, thus, the image of Björn Borg is slightly different from what the company would like their image to be. Our analysis reveals that there are many who associate the brand with older people. In a way, the older customers may influence the younger ones into thinking the brand is for an older age group. Also, many associate the brand with the “average joe” and with the tennis player despite the efforts of the company to create a special brand, not average, that stands apart from the tennis player, Björn Borg. Therefore, our study indicates that a company can sacrifice brand image if it holds on to all customers including those outside their target market.</p>

Aldrig förr har den svenska konsumenten varit så hälso- och miljömedveten. Ett resultat av detta är att fler mervärdesmärkningar har dykt upp på våra butikshyllor. En av de mest kända mervärdesmärkningarna inom ekologiskt producerade varor är i dagsläget KRAV-märkningen. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om Uppsala Universitets företagsekonomistudenters attityder gentemot KRAV-märkta produkter stämmer överens med den bild som KRAV vill förmedla. Studenterna har fått ange vilka produktattribut de anser vara av störst vikt vid livsmedelsinköp, vilka sedan har jämförts med hur väl de anser att KRAV uppfyller dessa. Genom detta har vi kunnat urskilja en generell attityd hos studenterna gentemot KRAV-märkta produkter. Resultatet visar på att studenterna har en positiv attityd gentemot KRAV-märkta varor. Dock visar undersökningen på att den bild som KRAV vill förmedla inte helt överensstämmer med den bild som studenterna har om varumärket. Den traditionella bilden av KRAV, där samhälls- och miljöansvar står i fokus, anser studenterna att KRAV uppfyller mycket väl. KRAV har däremot inte lyckats med att förmedla att KRAV-märkta produkter numera även står för god hälsa och smak. Vidare kan vi urskilja en tendens mot att studenterna inte värdesätter KRAV:s traditionella värderingar särskilt högt. Samhällsansvar och miljöansvar är inte någon prioritet vid studenternas val av livsmedel. Slutsatsen vi kan dra av detta är att om KRAV vill nå ut till studenterna som målgrupp bör de lägga större betoning på de produktrelaterade attributen som studenterna anser vara av störst vikt (smak, nyttigt, kvalité, tillgänglighet). KRAV bör fortsätta sitt arbete med att ladda varumärket med hälsoargument och framhäva de attribut som studenterna värdesätter hög

Brand contraction and Marketing constitute a new challenge in the 21st century¡¦s business development. The Smile Curve Theory provided by the founder of Acer Group, Mr. Stan Shih Z.R, who once stressed that value added manufacturing being low, the future development in Taiwan should focus on research/development and brand marketing. Due to the advancements in science technology and the keen competition among enterprises, many similar products can be found in the market. In general, branding is the motive that encourages producers to create unique products while stimulating customers to pay higher prices for what they want. Brand is an important asset to the enterprise; it not only brings profits under excellent quality control but also offers a convenient identity and enhances a company¡¦s growth. The well-known strategy of brand extension helps to reduce risks while promoting a new product in the market. However, the cost of promoting a new product into the market is higher than the cost occurred in the strategy of brand extension. For instance, the cost of promoting a new product into the market is about 50-100 million US Dollars in the American market (Brown, 1985). As a result, the advantage of applying the brand extension strategy lies in the promoting of new products and increasing the chances for success. The study aims at understanding the evaluation of brand image perception and brand extension from the viewpoint of consumers, and the study object was the package of aquatic products from Taiwan Water Corporation. The brand image perception and its image after extension constitute the independent variable. Consumers¡¦ high or low evaluation of brand image perception and the related extension were analyzed and examined to determine whether there was any significant correlation after extension. Furthermore, comparison of brand image was made between the new mineral water of Taiwan Water Corporation and others from the leading companies. The high or low brand image was sorted out in sequence and its relation ship with the brand extension evaluation was compared. Questionnaires were sent to 386 interviewees and the statistics were examined, the conclusions were drawn. Results: 1. There¡¦s significant correlation between the original brand and brand image perception after extension; if the similarity of brand extension is high, the correlation of the original brand image perception is higher than for products which have low similarity. 2. Between the original brand image perception and brand extension evaluation, the high brand image perception achieved higher brand extension evaluation than did the low brand image perception. The evaluation of brand extension with high similarity is also higher than that of brand extension with low similarity. 3. There¡¦s no interactive effect in ownership between the brand image perception and brand extension evaluation. The owner of the original brand gives a higher evaluation to brand extension with high similarity, than do non-owners. There¡¦s no significant variation between owner and non-owner to brand extension with low similarity. 4. If the similarity of brand extension is high, consumers often focus on the transferred perception of the functional image of the IT commodity. The value, function and reliability will be appreciated after brand extension. The brand extension with low similarity should emphasize the functional image and the transferred perception of the symbolized image from consumers. The fashionable image, personal style and outstanding reputation should also be formed so that a better evaluation of brand extension with low similarity can be made afterwards. Due to customers continuing to value the original brand image after brand extension of cross-classification, enterprises should treasure the influence of the original brand image and the compatible category on brand extension, as well as the variation resulting from different perceptions.

The fashion industry is one of the most exciting and fast-moving industries in the worldand the companies within the fashion industry are driven by the reputation of their brand.(Hines and Bruce, 2001) Some celebrities and athletes use their names as a label so that the wearer associates the clothes with the person, and therefore that brand takes on the image of the celebrity. This research is concentrated on the customers of a particular fashion company, Björn Borg. In the fashion industry, it is not only important who is wearing the brand, but also who is not wearing the brand, which leads to the aim of this paper: Can a company sacrifice its brand image if it holds on to all of its customers,including those outside of its target market? From our research, we were able to draw the following conclusions: The customers within the target group associate the brand with some of the characteristics of customers outside the target group and, thus, the image of Björn Borg is slightly different from what the company would like their image to be. Our analysis reveals that there are many who associate the brand with older people. In a way, the older customers may influence the younger ones into thinking the brand is for an older age group. Also, many associate the brand with the “average joe” and with the tennis player despite the efforts of the company to create a special brand, not average, that stands apart from the tennis player, Björn Borg. Therefore, our study indicates that a company can sacrifice brand image if it holds on to all customers including those outside their target market.

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ABSTRACT   Title: Private label in the supermarket industry: a case study of ICA.   Level: Final thesis for a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration   Author: Zhing Mo, Yulan Qu   Supervisor: Dr. Aihie Osarenkhoe   Date: 2010 – May   Aim: This dissertation aims to find out the motives behind the introduction of private label in ICA. The purpose is to further integrate the private label as a branding concept.    Method: Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been used in this research. The primary data has been collected through face-to-face interviews with ICA managers and an administer questionnaire. Secondary data has been collected from books, articles and the Internet.   Limitations: This research was limited by the size of the customer population and the number of stores. In addition the research was performed during the early stages of market penetration by ICA’s private label, and the results of future research might be different.   Conclusions: ICA released private label to counter manufacturer power and to be more price competitive. Moreover, it had a positive effect on customers’ loyalty. The introduction of the ICA private label had a great impact on brand image and brand awareness. With regards to loyalty, the ICA private label strategy is on the correct track but still has a gap between the intended objective and actuality.    Contribution of the thesis: This research contributes to finding out the advantages for retailers of introducing private label. Another contribution is to help the readers gain an in-depth understanding of private label in a brand concept. Moreover the research also presents some interesting prospects for further research.   Key words: private label, brand image, brand awareness, brand loyalty

This thesis was carried out during Spring semester 2012 at Södertörn University in collaboration with the Swedish distance selling company Halens. Halens is one of Sweden’s leading e-commerce companies with a significant history in distance selling. The company started as a mail-order company but their current and future goals are directed towards full e-commercialization. Halens has expanded to several international markets and their assortment consists mainly of women’s apparel, but also includes men’s wear, children’s wear and electronics. The purpose of this thesis is to find ways to improve the image of traditional mail-order companies that are going through a transition towards e-commerce. It has a specific look on branding and brand repositioning and the aim is to give suggestions on how to improve the image and attracting new customers while maintaining the loyal customer base that companies have gained. This includes identifying the pros and cons of the companies’ current position as well as viewing the modern possibilities that e-commercialization brings. Four interviews were conducted in order to obtain up-to-date information. Two of the people who were interviewed are employees at Halens whose work is closely related to the subject of this thesis. The data that was obtained from them deals with the company’s current activities and goals in terms of repositioning their brand. Another viewpoint is met with two consumer interviews, where information is received from different attitudes towards Halens. One of the interviewed is a long-time Halens customer, while the second one has never purchased from Halens. In addition, our own observations have been conducted for deeper analysis of the study. As one of us is a Halens employee it has given us direct access to collect data about the company image and compare our perceptions with one another. A clear view of the brand repositioning requirements that have appeared with the transition towards e-commerce has been established during this essay. Results have shown an apparent need for modernizing and investing in renewal of brand image as a mail-order company moving in to online marketing.

Taiwan development started from agriculture and gradually moves to manufacturing to finally transform the economy into a high-tech industry. The economic miracle was based on Taiwanese diligence, perseverance, and dependability; but the process does not finish there. Since we have come to a knowledge economy era, lots of enterprises in Taiwan have developed from OEM, ODM to OBM to speed up internationalization and upgrade competitive advantages. The best answer from companies is to response quickly and become more creative, vivid and diversified enhancing clients¡¦ involvement. Consequently, the ¡§Storytelling¡¨ era has begun. Enterprises nowadays use ¡§Brand Story¡¨ to draw customers¡¦ attention. Based on this perspective, the study examines how brand stories affect the brand image and brand personality. By using qualitative research, the managers of these four interviewed companies shared experiences of developing brand stories, allowing us to understand the brand spirit and brand position through the use of touching true stories that express the unique image and personality of the brand. The study shows how brand stories influence consumers, employees and other stakeholders bringing the benefits and increasing recognitions, brand image and word-of-mouth. The influencing power of brand stories is truly beyond imagination.